ill
by merlinsmushrooms
Summary: Roland comes to Sofia bearing worrisome news. {{Prompt from Tumblr}}


Sofia was at first delightfully surprised to hear her father knocking upon her door so early in the morning. It was an unexpected visitation, but she would never deny her father an audience with her. However, as Roland slipped himself inside her room she could tell that the reason for his unannounced presence was something serious. Roland's normal cheerful demeanor had been replaced with a solemn expression that she had never seen him harbour before. It was almost as if he were fighting back tears as he quietly asked her to take a seat on her bed - voice cracked and as gentle as a whisper.

There was a slight hesitation as the King sat himself down alongside her, fingers running gently through her hair before finally speaking,

"Sofia, there's been an… accident," he would state with a creaking to his voice, "but everything is okay for now."

Everything is okay _now_? Well, that was something that was good to know upfront. For a moment her heart had sunk in a horribly painful manner thinking something terrible had happened, but that must have been why he was so quick to reassure her. Something must have seriously scared him if he was this upset about something that was apparently fine now - but who was it? Mom? Amber? James? Baileywick?

"What happened?" she'd question with the most sincere tone she could attempt to muster.

There was an awkwardly long pause of silence from her father before he'd glance at her with a slight quiver to his lip. She couldn't bring herself to smile like she usually did when comforting him during the odd moments his strength faltered, but rather she'd simply repeat the soothing notion that he had done to her just prior. A gentle touch upon his face as she simply nodded to show she could wait for him to muster the words he needed - to show she was prepared to hear something that could be far worse than expected.

"...We almost lost Cedric."

"Mister Cedric?"

Almost...lost Cedric? What did that mean? He had said there was an accident...did one of his spells backfire on him again? Did he injure himself because of it? It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest if that was what happened, but it didn't settle the feeling of shock that had just been thrust upon her. She had never considered that Cedric's sometimes iffy handle on his magic could possibly cause him to injure himself. If anything, she felt guilty that she hadn't thought of Cedric when Roland had mentioned something was wrong in the first place because of his circumstances.

"I figure you're getting old enough to know when these things happen," Roland stated softly as he wrapped an arm around her in a gentle embrace, "You're friends with him, right?"

All she could respond with was a single nod. Her thoughts were still very displaced from trying to figure out what exactly could have happened to him. She knew better than to pester her father for any sort of answers at this point, however, as he still seemed to be more upset than she was at the idea that something so serious had happened. It was still an odd notion, however, to see him on the verge of tears over an injury - especially when it seemed like Cedric had accidents all the time. Even still, Roland had never seemed overtly fond of her favorite bumbling sorcerer...and yet…

"Y-Yes. Mister Cedric is a very good friend of mine." she would answer quietly as she continued to dwell on her thoughts.

"Well," Roland would begin with another pause of hesitation before he'd finally sigh, "Cedric's been...ill for a very long time."

Cedric was sick? While he was certainly very scrawny and a tad more pale than anybody else she had ever met before, she had never figured him to be ill - just scrawny. Why, just the day prior she had just been visiting with him and he seemed perfectly fine. The same as usual! Was he hiding something from her all this time? Or had she just not noticed? If she hadn't noticed - would that make her a horrible friend? Or...did he just not want her to worry about him?

"Sofia. I think you should go see him. He needs a friend."

Finally, a smile would start to form upon Sofia's lips. If she could help him - she would try. Afterall, he would always stop what he was doing for her when she needed him no matter how busy he was. Instantly, Sofia would slide herself off the bed with Roland's hand in hers to demand they leave immediately.

At first Sofia had paced ahead of her father with a worried skip to her step. However, just as Sofia turned to leave towards the gardens leading to Cedric's workshop Roland would reach a hand out to her shoulder to gently grasp it. A shake of his head no would indicate that she was going the wrong way. Perhaps because there was an accident they had taken him elsewhere? How silly of her. It was obvious they would have taken him to the castle's infirmary if he had injured himself! He was technically a servant after all - a thought that just resounded to her for the first time in quite a while. He'd be treated in the same manner as all the other servants, wouldn't he?

Not a word would be exchanged between them as they made their way through the sunny corridors leading to the servant's quarters. The maids were bustling up and down the halls doing their usual work without any sort of difference to their mannerisms. They were always such a busy lot and she took a moment to smile at each of them - just in case they needed it. It did seem strange that with such a serious thing having happened that none of them seemed to carry themselves even remotely as close to the way that her father was. Perhaps they didn't know? It would make sense to not tell them of anything of the sort so they could focus on their work…

Before she could enter the little enclave that had been used as the castle's infirmary, Roland would stop her once more before she could step through the doors.

"Wait here, please." he would politely request.

She wasn't exactly sure why he has asked her to wait after having asked her to follow him out here to visit him. There were many ideas racing through her mind but she attempted to drown them out with positives. That's what Mister Cedric would need in a time like this - positives. That's exactly why Roland would have wanted her here in the first place. Taking the quick break as an attempt to compose herself, Sofia would straighten herself out and practice the warmest smile she possibly could. Afterall - he needed a good friend, right?

The voice that called to her to enter wasn't that of her father, but that of an older yet familiar woman.

"Come in dearie. Just be very quiet."

Of course Winnifred would be here for Cedric. While she had only met his mother once before during a Buttercup's trip to Mystic Meadows, she got the feeling that Winnifred truly cared for her son. Despite the situation, however, the elderly sorceress would greet Sofia with a gentle and reassuring smile. Despite her warm nature, Winnifred seemed absolutely exhausted. Sofia's first thought was that she was the one who was caring for her son. If it were a magical accident Cedric was usually the one who needed to take care of things (even if the others were always reluctant to take his assistance), but it was Cedric himself who was injured this time. There was nobody who could help him except for maybe his parents... **  
**  
The first thing that Sofia would note upon being escorted into the room by Winnifred was that there was one more person who had come to visit; Baileywick. The stewart would tip his head in greeting with a finger placed to his lips to indicate quiet as she slipped past both him and Roland to the only bed in the small room.

It was apparent to her now more than ever that something had gone terribly wrong. The shrill noise of Cedric struggling to breathe was easily one of the most heart-wrenching moments she had ever felt before in her life. For the first time she could finally understand why her father was so distressed when he had first approached her about Cedric's condition. As she came closer to him she couldn't help but notice just how much more pale he had grown than his usual state. It was like she was staring at a sleeping ghost - or worse. All she could bring herself to do in her state of shock was reach out to brush his grayed bangs back into their proper place as he slept. _  
_  
As her fingers gently traced his sweat beaded forehead, his eyes would open only half-ways as he stared up at her without any other sort of movement. At first she was shocked that he was actually awake despite the precautions of the others, but another part of her was relieved to see that he was still strong enough to react to her touch. Attempting to smile, Sofia would gently stroke his hair much as her father had done to comfort her not too long ago. It was the only thing she could think of to do in the moment.

All the sorcerer seemed to be able to manage was a quiet groan as his head leaned to rest against her touch softly as his eyes shut once more. It was obvious that he barely had any strength left in him. His lips would flicker in a manner that she couldn't quite tell his expression - was it an attempt at mirroring her smiling? Or was it just a twitch of some sort? Emotion was so very hard to read with him even when he wasn't in such a state.

Suddenly, Sofia could feel herself being scooped up from behind. Without a word, Roland would place her on the bed right alongside the sickly sorcerer in a prompt that she could understand immediately from his concerned expression. Nesting up alongside Cedric, she would rest her head upon his chest carefully to make sure that she wasn't too heavy for him. A pained gasp would escape him as she curled up beside him, but she would glance up to him to see that he was not looking at her - but rather at Roland still without any sort of comprehensible expression. Exhausted eyes would dart quickly between the King and her before she could feel a weightless hand slip to rest upon her shoulder, his body adjusting slightly for comfort as he turned ever so slightly for what she assumed to be comfort without removing her from his chest.

This was why she was brought here.  
He needed this more than anything in the world - he had needed this for a very long time.

Nuzzling softly, Sofia would whisper to him warmly,  
"You'll be okay."

She'd make sure of it.


End file.
